What do you bring home with you?

suzy253, RN · May 2, 2004

Just emptied my pockets before washing my student uniform. Found KY, tape, bits of paper and alcohol wipes. Same day in cafeteria I was at the checkout paying for a soda and reached into my pocket for $2 and pulled out those alcohol wipes yet again.

Betty_SPN_KS, LPN · May 4, 2004

I had to laugh at all this.
My first job was in a very busy, very large ICU. I seemed to always end up working in the isolation rooms and I was concerned about bringing home the "ickies" to my husband. I developed the habit of walking in my front door, taking off my uniform, rolling it inside out and walking in just my "nothings" to the back of the house to the laundry room.
One day I did just that, walking down our long hall to the back of the house when the back door opened and my husband and two of his closest friends walked in. There was no place to go and nothing I could say that would make this better so I just continued my walk, passed them by, said "Hi ya'll", kissed my husband and went to the laundry room. I refused to come out until after they left.
My husband and I had started on an intense workout program about 6 months before that and my 23 year old body was in great shape. My husband and I were laughing about it later and he said all the two guys said was something along the lines of how great exercise really is...
...Whoever would have thought that the body I hated in my twenties would be the one I desired in my 40's...?????????

LOL :chuckle

KYDentedAngel · May 4, 2004

In addition to a blue million alcohol preps, I've carried home recently a pregnancy wheel, post-it notes, vital signs printed from the Dinamap (I wondered where I'd put them and had to re-print them earlier, duh), nail polish remover pads, OB towelettes, these are just the things I remember off the top of my rattled head! :uhoh3:

Lisa

DHAM · May 4, 2004

Alcohol wipes and saline flushes are the decorations in my living room! I swear, I don't mean to steal them..LOL

I know I didnt steal them either...that includes the pens! However, I did find a great use for them...Doesnt everyone get angry after showering only to end up white deodorant stains on your black shirt...and plain water just won't work....alcohol wipes do!!

CarolineRn · May 5, 2004

I just had to laugh -- today I noticed that there are piles of alcohol packets from work all over house.
Then I noticed that I also have an IV end cap rattling around on my dresser.
I have also brought home: 2X2's, a tourniquet, unlimited tape rolls, 10mg of Lasix (half tablet), butterfly needles, and once, to my husband's utter horror, a 16 gauge IV catherter.
If I didn't work insane hours in an ER, I'd think I had some odd form of kleptomania, but I guess it's just a bad habit of not cleaning out my pockets before I leave work.
What else gets brought home? Besides the c-diff and VRE, of course!

LOL! all of the above! family freaks when they see the needles, of course. My fear is if I ever get stopped on the way home by the police, they will assume I am a druggie or something. Good topic!

CarolineRn · May 5, 2004

hmmmm, does anyone bring thems home 'accidentally on purpose'? i have taken gloves to pick up the dog poop in my yard.....anyone else?

The blue sterile wraps that are used in the OR make "great" packing supplies when moving. :)

geckogirl · May 5, 2004

LOL! all of the above! family freaks when they see the needles, of course. My fear is if I ever get stopped on the way home by the police, they will assume I am a druggie or something. Good topic!

I can definately relate and reassure everyone that it is not only American nurses who are 'accidental kleptos'. My most memorable deposits were a jelco, syringe, alc swab etc that a guest saw on my kitchen table and couldnt leave my place fast enough - the druggie paraphanalia perhaps?! and an ampule of rocuronium that I left on a friends bathroom sink as I was getting changed after work - it was months later that he clicked and asked me what it did and if it was safe to put in a bin.

missmercy · May 5, 2004

Besides the usual all-the-above, I once went back home with the keys of the narcos cabinet of my unit. The hospital had to change the locks on the cabinet and they charged me with the bill...
Very very funny... not to mentionned embarrasing!

Used to have a manager who would send the police out to the home of whatever nurse forgot to return narc keys -- lights, sirens... whole deal -- I think her husband was a deputy -- our incidence of forgetting to return narc keys was pretty low!! Sure, the neighbors will believe that the police were just there to pick up some keys.....:uhoh21:

sbic56, BSN, RN · May 5, 2004

Used to have a manager who would send the police out to the home of whatever nurse forgot to return narc keys -- lights, sirens... whole deal -- I think her husband was a deputy -- our incidence of forgetting to return narc keys was pretty low!! Sure, the neighbors will believe that the police were just there to pick up some keys.....:uhoh21:

WOW. Some places take some pretty extreme measures when the keys go home with staff! Any place I have worked, we have always had to make the trip back right away, but no sirens or locksmith fees taken out of the paycheck! I understand it is a big deal, but shesh!!

FutureNurse2005 · May 5, 2004

I'm just curious if any of you return these items at all? lol :chuckle

babsrich42 · May 5, 2004

I'm just curious if any of you return these items at all? lol :chuckle

I bring home most of the stuff mentioned daily, empty my pockets on the table, and load them up the next day with all intentions of leaving the said stuff at work.....only to find that this is a vicious cycle. But the good news is you can count on me for a piece of tape and an alcohol pad!!! :rotfl:

Betty_SPN_KS, LPN · May 5, 2004

So do we take them back and use them at work? Or do we start a new thread "1000 uses for alcohol wipes"?